CONTACT/FOLLOW

Synopsis: 16-year-old Brin Skar hates everything to do with the supernatural, so the obsessive film geek isn't happy when she discovers that her junior year Film class at Grisly High is devoted to the horror genre. She's even more disconcerted when she learns that six groups in the class will be writing and directing their very own horror movies.

Brin and five classmates travel to Bodie Ghost Town in California to shoot their creepy film, but they soon find themselves fighting a real terrifying threat when a clan of mean, bloodthirsty vampires emerge from beneath the surface and start attacking the group. The teens, headed by Brin and the egotistical director Anaya Frost, have no help from the outside and become outnumbered by the vampires a hundred to one.

But when Brin meets Paul, a helpful and smoldering vampire outcast who's had enough of his shameful life, she realizes he might be the only key to her survival.

Review: When I started The Vampire Underground, I thought the prologue was great – let’s get to the vampires! Then Chapter One starts with Brin and her best friend Ash excited about the class you can only take in your junior and senior year, Into to Film. For huge film buffs, this is the ultimate in classes. But when they get there, Brin is disappointed because the entire class is going to be about horror films – her least favorite genre.

When the class is told they will be making a short mixed genre movie, Brin’s excited because she wants to write the script and direct. Yet, the group she gets thrown into doesn’t exactly support her creative endeavors. Brin’s bullied into letting Anaya Frost direct and write the script, which seemed out of character for her.

There seems to be a lot of whining on Brin’s part, not only about the movie, but about everything. She’s not exactly the most likable main character. Then there is Ash’s sense of movie superiority, to the point of screaming at someone who was watching a remake of a horror film (granted the original is a classic). I wasn’t much of a fan of many of the characters overall, but I liked the atmosphere the author created and the odd vampires who winter in the Bodie Ghost Town. I do wish we learned more about these vampires, but there was never enough time for Paul (the friendly vampire) to explain anything to Brin, and by extension to the reader. I did like the movie references and trivia, Ash’s two dads, and how the ‘2nd’ part of the book felt like you were watching a horror movie, instead of reading a story.